The Genesis Invitational: Top PGA DFS Picks, Values, and Sleepers for Large-Field GPPs on DraftKings

The PGA TOUR heads to Hollywood for the finale of the West Coast swing, as The Genesis Invitational returns home to The Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. After last year’s event was moved due to wildfires in the area, the tournament returns for the historic 100th playing of the event.

Tiger Woods will once again host the Signature Event, which features a limited field of the top 72 golfers on the PGA TOUR. Unlike last week’s Signature Event, the Genesis does have a cut, with the top 50 (and ties), along with any player within 10 strokes of the lead, making the cut and playing the weekend. The course is a fairly straightforward but difficult setup, with Kikuya rough, Poa annua greens, and excellent routing through the undulating fairways and greens, presenting a test for all facets of players’ games. For more on the field, format, courses, and what to look for from a statistical perspective this week, check out this First Look from RotoGrinders.

Especially in large-field GPP tournaments, you’ll want to make sure to target players who have lower ownership projections than their potential performance suggests. Finding high-leverage plays is critical for GPP success, so the picks here go against the grain, looking for under-owned options.

Usually, I rely heavily on the Strokes Gained Model in FantasyLabs, which is very predictive of results. I also tend to lean toward players who excel in Strokes Gained: Approach, which is more sustainable week to week than a hot putter.

Since these are GPP picks, we can accept more risk in exchange for getting a higher ceiling. High-risk, high-reward options with low ownership create the “boom-or-bust” style lineups that often lead to large-field success. To find guidance for all contest types, check out our full Daily Fantasy Golf coverage each week.

No matter what type of format you prefer, be sure to use the FantasyLabs PGA Models to help you make the best choices. These models use stats and simulations to highlight different players’ strengths and weaknesses. A few critical new stats for GPP play are Perfect% and SimLeverage, which are further explained here.

As you dig into the numbers, you can enjoy the many tools FantasyLabs offers, including the Lineup Optimizer, which effortlessly creates up to 300 lineups. Alternatively, you can use the Lineup Builder if you prefer a more hands-on approach.

Check out my top picks in each price range listed below.

Editor’s note: SimLeverage and Perfect% numbers may change after this piece is published. Be sure to check the PGA Models for any updates to the sims.

High-Priced PGA DFS Picks

Rory McIlroy $11,300

At the top of the salary structure, Rory McIlroy is again a very strong play for GPP lineups this week. He has the second-highest salary behind Scottie Scheffler, whose salary is $3,000 higher than that of any other player in the field. Rory offers significant savings to upgrade the rest of your roster and also brings great projections himself.

Rory matches 11 Pro Trends this week, while no other player matches more than nine. He has the highest Perfect% and SimLeverage in the field this week and also brings the second-shortest odds of winning and of finishing in the top 10, according to Vegas. He has the second-highest median, ceiling, and floor projections behind only Scottie, but his ownership projection is almost 5% lower, making him a good pivot that saves salary and differentiates your roster.

Last week, McIlroy made his first PGA TOUR start in his title defense at Pebble Beach, notching a very solid T14, which he finished with a 64 in the final round. He ranked fourth for the week in Strokes Gained: Approach but struggled off the tee and putting. He had to overcome three double bogeys and one triple bogey, so his T14 is actually that much more impressive, and his final round should definitely give him some momentum this week.

Rory had a solid fall internationally, winning the Amgen Irish Open on the DP World Tour in September and adding top-three finishes at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and DP World Tour Championship in two of his four events after that win. In January, he added another third-place finish at the Dubai Invitational and T33 at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour before last week’s PGA TOUR 2026 debut.

At Riviera, Rory has six top-25 finishes in eight tournaments, including three top-10 finishes. He finished just T29 and T24 in his last two trips to this event on this course, which is helping to keep his ownership a little lower, even though he still has a definite shot to win this week if he plays his best.

This week, Rory is a very high-upside play with a low enough ownership projection and salary to make him a solid GPP fit.

Patrick Cantlay $9,300

In the lower $9,000s, Cantlay is squeezed right between Collin Morikawa, last week’s winner, and Si Woo Kim, who has started the season on fire. With horses for the course, Viktor Hovland and Hideki Matsuyama are also priced right around him. Cantlay comes in a little under the radar and brings a positive SimLeverage and strong projections as a nice GPP pivot this week.

Patty Ice has won eight times on the PGA TOUR in his career, but his latest win was back in 2022 at the BMW Championship. Cantlay is a Long Beach native and a UCLA alumnus, so the 33-year-old is very comfortable at The Riv. He finished T4 in 2024, the last time the event was at this course, and solo third the year before. He racked up six top-20 finishes in the last seven tournaments at Riviera, including three top-five finishes.

Having a local who has come so close in the past win the 100th playing of The Genesis Invitational would be quite the Hollywood ending, and Cantlay comes in with the form to make that happen. He missed the cut at Torrey Pines but finished T13 at The American Express and T14 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last week. He closed out the week with a bogey-free 65 in the final round that included five birdies and an eagle. Cantlay actually led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach in the final round and ranked third for the tournament in GIR%.

Cantlay’s recent form and course history make him a great target in this salary range, which is packed with strong options to consider as the core of a balanced build or as a secondary star to Rory or Tommy Fleetwood in a stars and scrubs approach.

Now available: our PGA DFS SimLabs Lineup Generator that creates advanced DFS lineups using the power of simulation.

Mid-Priced PGA DFS Picks

Check out my top picks in each price range listed below.

Editor’s note: SimLeverage and Perfect% numbers may change after this piece is published. Be sure to check the PGA Models for any updates to the sims.